After President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he was “seriously considering” offering the job of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to Ben Carson, all signs appear to show that Carson will indeed be the next HUD secretary.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that he’s “gotten to know (Carson) well” and feels he is a “greatly talented person who loves people.”
Later Tuesday, a report from Reuters stated that Trump did offer the top HUD job to Carson.
The Reuters report cited Carson’s business manager, who said that Trump asked Carson to “consider” the position, a request that Carson agreed to.
According to the report, Carson plans to consider Trump’s offer over the Thanksgiving holiday.
But Carson himself took to Twitter and Facebook Wednesday to discuss the HUD offer and strongly intimated that he plans to accept the job.
“We have much work to do in strengthening every aspect of our nation and ensuring that both our physical & spiritual infrastructure is solid,” Carson tweeted Wednesday morning.
Carson followed that tweet with another suggesting that the plans to accept the HUD job, stating “An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.”
That tweet is accompanied by a link to Carson’s Facebook page, where posted a message that appears to provide some insight into his plans for HUD.
“Winning the presidential election was only the first step for those who love traditional America and do not wish to fundamentally change it,” Carson wrote.
“Now the hard work begins of restoring the values that made us great. We must bring back the compassion and the unity that empowers us and banish the divisiveness that weakens us,” Carson continued.
“After serious discussions with the Trump transition team, I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone,” Carson added.
“We have much work to do in strengthening every aspect of our nation and ensuring that both our physical infrastructure and our spiritual infrastructure is solid,” Carson concluded. “An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.”
Carson’s insinuation that he plans to accept the HUD job is a stark turnaround from just over a week ago when his business manager said that Carson did not want to serve in Trump’s cabinet.
But now, it appears that Carson is ready to take on the job at HUD, which puts him in a position to oversee the Federal Housing Administration as well as countless other housing programs.
As HousingWire noted Tuesday, Carson, a former neurosurgeon, would not bring the same level of housing knowledge to HUD that the other rumored candidates, Pam Patenaude and Robert Woodson would bring.
Patenaude currently serves as the president of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America's Families. She is also a former adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Under President Bush, she served as HUD assistant secretary for community, planning and development.
Patenaude is also the former director of housing policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Woodson who runs the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington, D.C.,, is a close advisor for Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., on poverty issues.
But it appears that none of that experience mattered to Trump.
Whether that’s a good decision or not remains to be seen.
